Each year, many thousands of women undergo mastectomy surgery. Such surgery can present serious trauma, both physical and emotional, following such surgery. While some women elect to have reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy, others choose not to. Those who choose not to undergo reconstructive surgery, generally still wish to have a physical appearance that resembles their pre-surgery appearance. Additionally, restoration of a pre-surgical feel is usually beneficial in overcoming both physical imbalance and emotional trauma associated with loss of a breast.
Breast forms are prostheses worn externally within the cup of a brassiere to simulate the lost breast. Such prosthetic breast forms have been made from various materials and are designed to either fit within fitted post-mastectomy brassieres which have included a stitched pocket or other means to hold the form in place, or within a conventional brassiere.
Breast forms are traditionally difficult to properly size and fit and suffer from numerous disadvantages. Often, such forms move and reshape during use resulting in an unnatural look. Some breast forms are unrealistic in feel, appearance, or movement. Some breast forms, particularly silicon or liquid filled breast forms are hot and often too heavy resulting in trapped perspiration and discomfort—sometimes sticking to or otherwise irritating the chest wall.
It has been found to be important, not only for self esteem and visual appeal, for a post-mastectomy patient to wear a breast form, but there is evidence that failure to compensate for the lost breast tissue can cause some women to develop spinal misalignment and chronic back pain as a result of failure to compensate for the loss of symmetry associated with loss of a natural breast.
Many prosthetic breast forms are available commercially, but all known devices suffer from various shortcomings such as being too hard, too heavy, too light, too rigid, too floppy, too hot to wear, unstable, costly, or unnatural in appearance and/or feel. Some such forms suffer from bunching or settling of the filling that requires frequent adjustment by the wearer, which may be both annoying and embarrassing.